Cannes: Download THR's Day 4 Daily

A look at producers' direct negotiations to sell films and exclusive news that Steven Soderbergh's 'Logan Lucky' has sold to China.

The Hollywood Reporter's fourth Cannes Film Festival daily issue includes a look at producers' direct negotiations to sell films, a chat with Huayi Brothers Pictures CEO Jerry Ye and exclusive news that Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky has sold to China.

Who Needs a Sales Agent?
At least three major domestic rights deals have closed on the ground in Cannes, none of which were negotiated by domestic sales agents: Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer to A24, Paul Verhoeven’s Elle to Sony Pictures Classics and Mike Leigh’s Peterloo to Amazon Studios. In each case, the films’ producers negotiated directly with the buyer, eliminating the middlemen and their commissions. Does the trio of films spark a trend?

Logan Lucky to China
Shanghai-based Linmon Pictures has acquired Steven Soderbergh's top-secret directorial project Logan Lucky for distribution in China. Channing Tatum, Michael Shannon and Adam Driver are set to star in the film, which will mark Soderbergh's return to feature filmmaking after 2013's medical thriller Side Effects. The film features Tatum and Shannon as brothers who plan a heist during a high-profile NASCAR race.

"This Is the Chinese Dream, Too"
Shortly before Cannes last year, Huayi Brothers signed an 18-film co-financing and distribution agreement with Robert Simonds’ STX Entertainment. As the new CEO of Huayi Brothers Pictures, Jerry Ye already has begun to deepen its international ties. Ye invited THR to his Beijing office to discuss the rapid changes underway in the Chinese movie industry and why Hollywood will have to learn to tap “the Chinese dream” if it’s going to continue being successful there.